HC orders settlement of petition to form committee for re-investigation of BDR massacre

The Supreme Court (HC) today (Nov 5) issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to dispose of a petition within ten days seeking the formation of an independent inquiry commission to investigate the truth behind the Pilkhana BDR massacre headquarters on February 25 and 26. in 2009.

An HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury issued the rule on a petition filed by two Supreme Court lawyers seeking a directive to the government to form the committee and the court fixed November 24 for the next hearing.

SC lawyers Md Tanvir Ahmed and Biplab Kumar Poddar filed the petition on October 20 as a public interest litigation.

In the petition, they also prayed for an order from the HC to the concerned authorities to declare February 25 as “Shaheed Sena Dibos (Day of the Martyred Soldier)”.

SC lawyer Tanvir himself filed the petition, which was seconded by another lawyer Biplab, while Deputy Attorney General Tanim Khan stood up for the state.

During his presentation before the court, Tanvir said no investigative report on the perpetrators and masterminds behind the Pilkhana massacre has been published at the national level.

Following the fall of the Awami League (AL) government on August 5, families of the victims and former army officers have provided new information about the massacre.

He said some people have claimed the investigation was not conducted properly.

“In the given context, we submitted a petition to the Ministry of Home Affairs on November 3, requesting the formation of a National Independent Commission of Inquiry and declaring February 25 as ‘Shaheed Sena Dibos,’” he said.

The Pilkhana headquarters massacre of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), now Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), took place from February 25 to 26, 2009, in which 74 people, including 57 army officials, were killed.

A court in Dhaka handed down death sentences to 150 BDR members and two civilians, and life sentences to 160 others on November 5, 2013, in connection with the murder case. A total of 256 people, mainly BDR soldiers, were given prison sentences and 278 others were acquitted.

The HC later delivered its verdict on November 27, 2017, upholding death sentences for 139 people and life imprisonment for 185 others. About 228 suspects were given various prison terms and 45 others were acquitted of charges.

The state has filed leave to appeal (leave to appeal) against 83 suspects who have been acquitted of charges or whose sentences have been commuted.

In the biggest ever case in the country’s history, BNP leader and former lawmaker Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu was accused. He later died in prison.